“You Can Have Any Beer You Want. As Long As Its A Corona”

I doubt anyone reading this has enjoyed craft beer for 100% of their beer-drinking life. Where did most of us begin? Macros. They are cheap, lack flavor, and are meant to be drank cold…very cold.

Eventhough we all have graduated on to bigger, better, and more expensive forms of malted grain there is still somethig alluring about the golden liquid that started it all. Plus, with a high majority of the human population still drinking solely from the big brewers there is attention to be paid.

My dirty little secret is Corona Extra with the obligatory lime bobbing around. It was the first beer to really capture my attention. The lime wedge added enough (artificial) flavor to keep me clammoring for more. I was used to forcing down kegged Keystone and the “Champagne of Beers” so this citrusy import had me hooked from the get-go.

Let’s be honest. Who hasn’t dreamt of starring in the real-life version of a Corona commercial. With their serene beaches and buckets of ice cold beer within arms reach it’s hard to ignore the imagery that is released as you pry off the cap and slip in the lime. It’s marketing at it’s best, but it speaks to the vacation-starvation in all of us. Even with bottles of Kentucky Breakfast Stout and Hopslam in my cellar nothing seemed to fit “enchilada night” quite like Corona Extra.

“La Cerveza Mas Fina” comes in a clear bottle primed for light degredation. It weighs in at 4.6% ABV and is brewed by Cerveceria Modelo of Mexico. It’s a pale golden yellow and witbout the lime gives off metallic and straw aromas. With the lime it has a lime and straw aroma. The flavor sans lime is metallic, watery, and adjuncty while the lime adds a pleasant citrus spark. Carbonation is lively and even more so with the lime’s acidity. Watery and crisp it refreshes on a hot day or a chilly enchilada themed evening.

Corona Extra is special not for it’s complex aroma or exclusivity, but for the special place it holds in my heart from a time when I’d never even heard of craft beer. In a way it was my first true “beer epiphany” by showing me that some beer could actually be enjoyed outside of a plastic funnel. Had I not enjoyed Corona so much you may not find me where I am today blogging about the wonderful world of craft beer.
In the words of Dom in “The Fast and the Furious,” “You can have any beer you like…as long as it’s a Corona.” Lucky for us there are many more choices.

Score: 50/100

Chance of Craft Beer Epiphany: 45%

This isn’t craft beer, and it isn’t flavorful, but it just might be enough to spark ones pursuit for other beer. Even with a cellar full of IPAs and Imperial Stouts there are some nights where I just feel like a Corona. We all have a dirty little secret and mine’s Corona.